Youth Attention to Food and Beverage Advertising: Differences by Age, Gender and Susceptibility to Advertising

Abstract

To test for mean differences in levels of attention to food and beverage advertising among groups of youth. Research has documented associations between food advertising and diet-related outcomes among youth, however the strength of evidence differs for certain groups and little is known about the personal characteristics of youth who are most susceptible to food advertising. Participants for this cross-sectional study included 102 youth (mean age = 11.6 years; 56.4% Caucasian; 43.1% Female). Participants viewed 40 food advertisements on the computer in a university laboratory. Eye-movements were recorded using eye-tracker technology, which provides a real-time descriptive analysis of an individual's point of gaze and length of attention to each advertising element. Objective attention measures included total viewing time, fixation length (time spent viewing characters, logos, unhealthy food/beverage items), and fixation count (number of times an individual views characters, logos, unhealthy food/beverage items). Independent samples t tests were conducted to test for mean differences in the levels of attention to food advertising by age, gender, and susceptibility to advertising. Findings indicate significant differences for several of the attention to advertising measures by age. In all instances, older youth viewed the advertisements significantly longer and more frequently than did younger youth. There were no significant differences in mean levels of attention to advertising by gender or susceptibility to advertising. Documenting the components of food and beverage advertising that gain the greatest attention from youth can help researchers to understand the mechanisms for the association between exposure to advertising and youth outcomes.